Living God’s Dream Despite Past Poor Decisions—Part One

Guest (Male): Hey friends, thanks for spending some time here at Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And today, we're continuing our series with Rick Warren called Time to Dream, trusting God to open doors. Maybe you've been waiting for a breakthrough, an opportunity, or just some clarity about what's next. If so, you're in the right place. Rick will turn to the Bible, and you'll see how God opens doors when we trust him with our future. And let's get right to it with part one of a message called Living God's Dream Despite Passport Decisions.
Pastor Rick Warren: Now, in the first message in this new series on Time to Dream and Open Doors in our campaign, last week, I gave you a dozen reasons why you have to know God's dream for your life. If you missed that message, you really need to to listen to it. A dozen reasons why you're you're not living, you're just existing. If you don't know God 's dream for your life. But one of the things that I said is that God's dream for your life is always always bigger than your dream for your life. The Bible says God can do far more than you think or ask or imagine or even dream of. God's dream for your life is bigger than your dream for your life. That's why you need to discover it. That's why you need to develop it. But I want to pause before we go into the actual steps of discovering God's dream for your life and talk to you this week about the biggest barrier that will keep you from God's dream. The number one barrier to your future is your past. It's your past because we tend to perpetrate the past. Now, your past is past. It's over. It's done with. But a lot of people still try to live in the past. You can't live in the past. It 's over. It's done with. But you can live in the present, and you can prepare and dream for the future. So, this weekend, I want us to look at living God's dream despite poor past decisions. Because I meet people all the time ago, well, I think maybe I had my chance, but I've missed God's dream. I'm now on plan B or C or D or E. And I don't know I don't deserve to have God's dream because I so messed up so much of my past. I don't even know if I should dream. Well, you're dead wrong. But I'm glad you came this weekend because we're going to look at how to live God's dream despite past poor decisions. Now, the one reason we know that God's word is God's word, that the Bible's God's word is it always tells us the truth, even when we don't like to hear it. It tells us the truth. And the first verse there on your outline, James chapter 3 verse 2 says this, we all stumble in many ways. Everybody agree with that verse? Yeah. We're all in the same boat. Okay. We all I looked up that word all, it means all. Okay. We all stumble. We mess up. We screw up. We make mistakes. We sin. We have problems. We hurt other people. We hurt ourselves. We all stumble in many many ways. This is one of the most obvious truths of the universe. I mean, I have never met anybody in all my years who's claimed to be perfect, that they've never stumbled. No, no. We've all messed up in many ways. Just a couple of other verses on the screen. Ecclesiastes 7:20. There's not a single person in all the earth who's always good and never sins. That includes me. It includes you. It includes the Pope. It includes everybody. There's not a person on earth who always does what's right, always does what's good, and never does what's wrong. The The Bible says it like this in Romans 3:23. Yeah, all of us all of us. Again, there's that word. All of us have sinned. Everyone falls short of God's glorious ideal. Now, another way to say that verse is all of us have sinned, and all of us fall short of God's original dream for our lives. Okay. We've all We've all fallen short of God's original dream for our lives. Does that mean that that dream is now on hold? No, it does not. It does not. We all fall short of the glorious ideal. We don't hit perfection. We don't get what God has dreamed for us. But this is why Jesus came to earth. He said this on the screen, Luke 19:10. I came, Jesus said, to save and restore what was lost. What's lost when we make poor choices? We lose our vision. We lose our dignity. We can lose our identity. We can lose our confidence. We can lose our joy. We can lose our peace of mind. We can lose our plans and dreams and hopes. A lot of stuff's lost from our poor decisions. But the whole reason Jesus came to earth is he said, I came to recover and to restore that which is lost. And part of what Jesus came to restore is God's original dream for you. He hadn't moved on to plan B in your life. He still has plan A in your life. He still has his original dream for why he made you regardless of what's happening in your life, what other people have done to you or what other people have done against you or or what you have done to yourself or all the poor decisions that other people you made. How do you live God's dream despite past poor decisions? Well, I want us this weekend to look at the steps because the Bible gives us a very clear pathway on how to get back on track, to how to get back to God's original dream. Even if you haven't been there for 50 years, how do you get back? It's never too late to get back on track with the original plan God had for your life. He hasn't shelved it. It's still in force in your life. So, what are the steps to recovering God's original dream for my life, even though I may have not even known about it until now? Well, there are six steps. I want you to to write these down. Here's number one. The first step in recovering God's dream for my life is to honestly accept responsibility for my poor choices. That's where we start. I I just go I own up and say I honestly accept responsibility for all the dumb choices I've made in life. Nobody forced you to make the choices that you made. You chose to make them, and I've chosen to make them. And the Bible says we've all stumbled in many ways. We've all made poor choices. Now, what this means when I don't and I don't excuse myself, which is what we typically do. We accuse and excuse. Since Adam and Eve, God's people and everybody has have this accusing excusing. We excuse ourselves, well, well, well, and we accuse others. We blame others. You've heard me say many times, you spell blame b lame. Every time you blame, you are being lame. So, don't excuse and accuse it. Now, there are many many examples I could give in scripture on why we make poor choices. Let me just give you one. It is the time when Peter betrayed Jesus Christ the night before he goes to the cross. And And Jesus even predicted said, Peter, you're going to deny me three times before tomorrow morning. And And in Peter's night before Jesus goes to the cross betrayal, where he betrays Jesus three different times, he makes three really poor choices. But he does it for four very common reasons. So, I want you to see these. They're all in Mark chapter 14, if you want to read about it. Mark chapter 14 is Jesus being betrayed by Peter. And And there are four common causes. The first cause that causes us to make poor choices, write this down, is pride. Pride, arrogance, ego, egotism. The Bible says that pride causes us to make dumb decisions. Now, we see this in the upper room. Jesus is in the upper room with his closest disciples, the original 12. They're taking the Lord's Supper together. Jesus says, at that moment, one of you is going to betray me. One guy pipes up saying, no way, Jose. That isn't going to happen. Who is it? It's Peter. And in Mark chapter 14 verse 29, Peter in the upper room says this, everybody else may stumble in their faith, but I won't. He's being set up by the devil right here. Big big target on his back. Nobody else makes this boast of the 12 guys. But Peter, of all the guys, goes, Lord, all these losers over here, they may deny you. They They may back out. They may wimp out on you. I know what you're about to go through. You're getting ready to be arrested and tortured and go to the cross, but I no way am I going to back out. I die for you. He's setting himself up with pride. The Bible says if any man thinks he's not going to fall, take heed because he probably will. And the people who brag about their confidence the boast are the ones who are going to most likely stumble. He says everybody may stumble, but I won't. It's just pride. Proverbs 11 verse 2 on the screen says, pride leads to disgrace, but humility leads to wisdom. Anytime I start thinking I'm a hot shot, I'm dead in the water already. Anytime I start thinking I'm invincible, this can't happen to me, I'm already dead. Given the right situation, you and I are capable of any sin. Given the right situation. If you don't believe that, you're already in trouble because the Bible says the heart's deceitful. You lie to yourself, and I lie to myself more than we lie to anybody else. Pride causes us to make dumb decisions. Have you ever made a dumb decision out of pride? Don't give me your illustration, but I know you could think of one. Okay. Number two. Second cause of poor decisions in life, fatigue. Fatigue. When you get tired, when you get worn out, when your resources are low, when you're stressed to the limit, when you're hanging on and you're you're about to go under, you're at the end of your rope. When you're fatigued, Vince Lombardi, the great coach, said fatigue makes cowards of all of us. And it does. The more fatigued you are, the more fearful you will tend to become, and the more controlling you will tend to be. Now, Now, Jesus, before he is arrested, he goes to this place, his favorite place to pray, it's called the Garden of Gethsemane. And while he's there, he takes the 12 guys with him, and he takes three of them, Peter, James, and John, goes, you guys come along with me. I just need you to be here with me while I pray. I don't need you to pray for me. I just need you to be with me. The ministry of presence. While I'm praying through what I am going to face tomorrow being crucified and tortured. So, Jesus is there praying his heart out, and the three guys, Peter, James, and John, all fall asleep. And And in Mark chapter 14 verse 37, Jesus wakes them up goes, guys, could you not stay awake with me for just one hour? Just one hour. I I'm just asking you to stay awake with me for one hour. What's happened? They're fatigued. When you get fatigued, you are going to make poor choices in your life. Never make a major decision when you're tired or depressed. Never make a major decision when you're tired or depressed. Okay. Here's the third reason people make bad decisions, fear of disapproval. When you start worrying about what other people think, what will other people think if I make this decision? What will other people think if I stand up for God? If I represent Christ at my business site, at my job site, at my school, what will other people think? That's going to cause you to make a poor decision, the fear of disapproval. After Jesus is arrested that night, the Bible says this, Mark 14 verse 54, that Peter followed Jesus how? At a distance. Circle that. At a distance. He's following Jesus at a distance. Anytime you follow Jesus at a distance, you're going to make dumb decisions. You got to get as close to God as you can. You got to get as close to Jesus as you can. Peter, who's been right by his side for three and a half years, now he's scared to death, and he's following Jesus. He's just following him from a distance. Are you doing that? Are you following Jesus from a distance? You all yeah, I I I'm saved. I'm I'm in the family of God. I'm a I'm a believer. I'm a Christian, but you're following God as a distance. You're going to make dumb decisions if you follow at a distance. Why do you follow at a distance? Why was Peter following cuz he's afraid if I get too close to Jesus, they might crucify me too. They might torture me too. They might arrest me too. And he's concerned for his own safety. He's following at a distance cuz he's worried about what other people will think. When you worry about what other people think, you're always going to make the wrong decision. All right. Here's the fourth reason we make poor decisions. Short-term pleasure. Short-term pleasure. You know, you're getting ready to go to bed at night, and you know, really probably eating a banana split isn't the best thing for me. But it would be so good while I'm eating it. And so, we go for short-term pleasure instead of long-term health. And this happens in a thousand different ways. When people overspend on their credit card and they get deeper and deeper and deeper into debt. Why? They're doing short-term pleasure. I got to have it. I got to have it now. I got to have it now even if I can't afford it. They're They're exchanging short-term pleasure for long-term pain. Now, here's what you need to understand in life. Put up with pain now, you'll have pleasure later on in life. Put up with Enjoy pleasure now, you're going to have pain later on in life to pay back for all the things you paid for. It's one of the other. If you put up with discipline and and put up with some inconvenience now and you save your money, you'll have a lot more pleasure later on in life. But if you spend it all now, short-term pleasure, then you're going to have the pain there. You 're going to have it one way or the other. You get to choose. Short-term pleasure. Matthew Excuse me. Mark 14 verse 54. It says, so then Peter sat down with the guards and warmed himself at the fire. I imagine they were making s'mores. Anybody got a hot dog stick? Well, this this this is roast some weenies and have a hot dog and make s'mores and Is this fun? Jesus is being arrested and tortured, and what's he doing? He's sitting sitting with the enemy around the campfire. Why? It's convenient. It's comfortable. Anytime I place comfort before character, I'm going to make poor decisions. Anytime I I put short-term gain over long-term gain, I'm going to I'm going to make poor decisions. Now, those are four common causes. There are a lot more, but we all make poor choices out of pride, out of fatigue, out of fear of disapproval, and out of short-term pleasure. Now, here's an interesting point. These four things that caused Peter to make dumb decisions. Jesus wasn't surprised by any of them. In fact, Jesus told Peter in advance, this is what's going to happen. Jesus knew that Peter was going to betray him before Peter did cuz he's God. And And he even tells him, and he says, Peter, before the rooster crows three times tomorrow morning, you're going to deny me three times. And And here's what he says. Look at the next verse. Jesus isn't surprised by our failures in life. Luke 22 verse 31 32. Jesus said, Simon Peter, Satan has asked to test you, but I have prayed for you. Satan has wish has asked to test you, but I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail. So, when you have repented and recovered, this is after you've denied me, I want you to strengthen the other disciples. Now, this is a very powerful verse that teaches us a lot about your failures. Okay. First, I want you to notice that Jesus knows every failure in your life before it happens. Okay. He's not going to be surprised. You're going to have failures this next year. You're going to make some bad decisions in the future. He already knows them. He God knows past, present, future all the same time. So, it's not like he's go, oh man, didn't see that one coming. Didn't know you were going to make that one. Before you were born, he knew every dumb decision you'd make and I would make. He Jesus knows every failure before it happens. Then notice next, Jesus prays for you before it happens. The things that you're going to fail at this next week, this next month, this next year, the next 10 years, Jesus has already prayed for you. That's what he says. He's already prayed for the dumb mistakes you're going to make, the bad decisions you're going to choose. He says, I know what you're go what's going to happen. And not only that, I've already prayed for you. I've already prayed for you. And then notice he says, when you have repented and recovered, he didn't say if. Jesus knows you're going to recover. Jesus already knows you're going to recover from the sins and the mistakes and the bad decisions that you're going to make in the future. He already knows. He knows what they are, but he also knows he's prayed for you, and so he knows you're going to recover. He says, when you have recovered and repented, and then he says, I want you to strengthen the other disciples. Here's the fourth thing. Jesus wants you to help others with what you learned from your mistakes. Whoa. Now, we're getting somewhere. We're in this series. We're going to take six weeks to talk about God's dream for your life. Part of God's dream for your life is to take the lessons of your mistakes and help somebody else. The same four things he said to Peter, he says to you. I know every mistake you're going to make in life. I've already prayed for every mistake you're going to make in life. I know you're going to come back to me after that mistake in life. And I want you to help other people when you've come back. That's good news because it means ultimately I can't destroy my own life if I've given it to God because he is going to work it all out. So, the first step in recovering God's original dream is just to humbly or honestly accept responsibility for my poor choices. Yeah, that was a dumb one, and that was a dumb one, and that was a dumb one, and that was a very hurtful one. And that was an evil choice that I made. And I made it out of pride, and I made it out of fatigue, and I may have made it out of fear of what other people think. I may have made it out of choosing short-term pleasure over long-term character. Here's the second step. I humbly ask for God's mercy and forgiveness. Now, I don't have to explain this all a lot cuz it just means humbly ask. If you don't know what to pray, I would highly recommend you learn and read Psalm 51. Psalm 51 is David's prayer of confession after he'd had a guy murdered so he could steal his wife. Pretty significant sin. Psalm 51 verses 1 to 3 verse 6 and verse 10. David said, have mercy on me, oh God, because of your unfailing love. In your great compassion, please wipe out the stain of all my wrongdoing. Wash away all my guilt. Cleanse me from my sins, for I am haunted by my failures, and I can't forget the evil things I've done. I know you love complete honesty from my heart. Help me to see what's deep inside me. Then God, create a new pure heart in me and renew my spirit with the right desires. I I want to do the right thing. I want to do what's right. And restore the joy of your salvation. Then he says, I'll help bring others back to you too.
Guest (Male): What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to tell you how you can help support this ministry.
Pastor Rick Warren: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives according to five specific purposes. He said you've got to love God with all your heart. That's worship. And love your neighbor as yourself. That's ministry. That's called the great commandment. And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize them into the family of God. That's fellowship. A sign of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the great commission. We believe at Daily Hope that a great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission will produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company, a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just across America, but all around the world. And we want people to know that God's word is filled with hope and truth. And the power that we need to follow him every day is available to every single one. You know as well as I do that the word of God changes lives. It's alive. It's active. And it breathes new life and new love into all of our lives. So, wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on the website, whether you listen on a radio station, whether you listen to a podcast, you're a part of the Daily Hope family. And I need your help. We could not do this without your support. We're 100% listener funded. Would you continue to pray for this broadcast and would you continue to support us? And let write to me. Let Let me hear from you. I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me. So, write me, pray for me, and support this ministry. And God will bless it, and God will bless you, and we'll get to heaven, and we'll thank God for all the people are going to be in heaven because you cared.
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